Author Topic: The Arizona Supreme Court Strikes a Powerful Blow for Free Speech and Religious Freedom  (Read 1419 times)

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Offline PeteS in CA

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https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/arizona-supreme-court-upholds-free-speech-religious-freedom/

The Arizona Supreme Court Strikes a Powerful Blow for Free Speech and Religious Freedom

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Free speech and religious liberty are on a winning streak. Last month the Eighth Circuit Court of appeals ruled that Christian wedding photographers could not be compelled to use their artistic talents to help celebrate same-sex weddings. Today, the Arizona Supreme Court reached a similar holding, this time on behalf of Christian calligraphers and painters Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski. The case, brought by my friends and former colleagues at the Alliance Defending Freedom, is similar to multiple other wedding vendor cases. The plaintiffs do not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation (they happily serve gay customers). They merely refuse to produce art that advances ideas they find objectionable.

Duka and Koski operate a limited liability company called “Brush & Nib Studios.” The company’s Operating Agreement declares its beliefs quite clearly — stating that it will not create “custom artwork that communicates ideas or messages . . . that contradict biblical truth, demean others, endorse racism, incite violence, or promote any marriage besides marriage between one man and one woman, such as same-sex marriage.” As with all these cases, the core question is whether the custom artwork at issue constitutes constitutionally protected speech (the court was interpreting the Arizona constitution, but applied federal free speech precedents). If so, then the state’s demand that the plaintiffs produce art for same-sex marriages constitutes a form of compelled speech, among the most egregious forms of First Amendment violation. Compelled speech violates the fundamental principle that “an individual has autonomy over his or her speech and thus may not be forced to speak a message he or she does not wish to say.”

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Ultimately, the City’s analysis is based on the flawed assumption that Plaintiffs’ custom wedding invitations are fungible products, like a hamburger or a pair of shoes. They are not. Plaintiffs do not sell “identical” invitations to anyone; every custom invitation is different and unique. For each invitation, Duka and Koski create different celebratory messages, paintings and drawings; they also personally write, in calligraphy or custom hand-lettering, the names of the specific bride and groom who are getting married. In short, Plaintiffs do not create the same wedding invitation for any couple, regardless of whether the wedding involves a man and a woman or a same-sex couple.

I'll have to wander over to ADF's website to see if they have a piece giving the background to this case.
« Last Edit: September 16, 2019, 09:45:05 pm by PeteS in CA »
If, as anti-Covid-vaxxers claim, https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2021/robert-f-kennedy-jr-said-the-covid-19-vaccine-is-the-deadliest-vaccine-ever-made-thats-not-true/ , https://gospelnewsnetwork.org/2021/11/23/covid-shots-are-the-deadliest-vaccines-in-medical-history/ , The Vaccine is deadly, where in the US have Pfizer and Moderna hidden the millions of bodies of those who died of "vaccine injury"? Is reality a Big Pharma Shill?

Millions now living should have died. Anti-Covid-Vaxxer ghouls hardest hit.

Offline PeteS in CA

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https://www.adflegal.org/detailspages/blog-details/allianceedge/2019/09/16/huge-win-for-brush-nib-studio!-arizona-supreme-court-upholds-freedom-of-two-phoenix-artists

HUGE WIN for Brush & Nib Studio! Arizona Supreme Court Upholds Freedom of Two Phoenix Artists

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Jail time and fines.

Those are the real threats Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski, the owners and artists of Brush & Nib Studio, faced under a Phoenix law. Why? Because they would only imagine and create custom artwork expressing messages and celebrating events consistent with their core convictions.

Joanna and Breanna could not contradict their deeply held beliefs. And they did not want to abandon the artwork they love and the studio they worked so hard to create. So Joanna and Breanna took a stand—not just for themselves, but for everyone’s freedom to express messages consistent with their beliefs.

Today that stand was rewarded! The Arizona Supreme Court ruled in favor of Joanna and Breanna, recognizing that Phoenix cannot force artists to express messages or celebrate events that violate their beliefs. Praise God!
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But soon after launching their studio, Joanna and Breanna discovered that Phoenix interprets its law to require them to create custom artwork expressing messages that violate their convictions.

According to Phoenix, if Joanna and Breanna design and create custom wedding invitations to celebrate marriages between a man and a woman, they must do the same to celebrate same-sex weddings. If they politely declined, Phoenix law threatened criminal penalties—including up to six months in jail and $2,500 in fines for each day that Phoenix decided they were not in compliance.

But Alliance Defending Freedom represented Joanna and Breanna in court, arguing that this coercion violates fundamental protections for freedom of speech and religion. ...

IIRC, Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski filed this lawsuit before the gay activists targeted them, before the City of Phoenix came after them. This case is an example of why the SPLC has labeled the Alliance Defending Freedom a "hate group". The ADF defends freedoms the SPLC feels should not be, and wins.
« Last Edit: September 16, 2019, 10:23:29 pm by PeteS in CA »
If, as anti-Covid-vaxxers claim, https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2021/robert-f-kennedy-jr-said-the-covid-19-vaccine-is-the-deadliest-vaccine-ever-made-thats-not-true/ , https://gospelnewsnetwork.org/2021/11/23/covid-shots-are-the-deadliest-vaccines-in-medical-history/ , The Vaccine is deadly, where in the US have Pfizer and Moderna hidden the millions of bodies of those who died of "vaccine injury"? Is reality a Big Pharma Shill?

Millions now living should have died. Anti-Covid-Vaxxer ghouls hardest hit.

Online roamer_1

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No, this is not the right direction.

The right direction is that a business is property. And the owner of the property has the right to do business as he pleases, with whom he pleases.

Every sale is a private contract between voluntary participants.

That is the very basis of capitalism, which is the very basis of trade, time immemorial.
If it is not voluntary and is instead coerced, that ruins everything and it becomes crony-capitalism which will always fail.


Offline Cyber Liberty

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No, this is not the right direction.

The right direction is that a business is property. And the owner of the property has the right to do business as he pleases, with whom he pleases.

Every sale is a private contract between voluntary participants.

That is the very basis of capitalism, which is the very basis of trade, time immemorial.
If it is not voluntary and is instead coerced, that ruins everything and it becomes crony-capitalism which will always fail.

I don't think I'm following you.  The AZ Supremes decided the company cannot be forced to comply.
For unvaccinated, we are looking at a winter of severe illness and death — if you’re unvaccinated — for themselves, their families, and the hospitals they’ll soon overwhelm. Sloe Joe Biteme 12/16
I will NOT comply.
 
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Online roamer_1

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I don't think I'm following you.  The AZ Supremes decided the company cannot be forced to comply.

Yes, but because it is artistic expression, not because transactions must be voluntary.

Offline Cyber Liberty

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Yes, but because it is artistic expression, not because transactions must be voluntary.

Ah! I see your point.  Yes, it should be a matter for business rather than art, simply because it's easier to define clearly.  The free conduct of business train left the station in the 60's.
For unvaccinated, we are looking at a winter of severe illness and death — if you’re unvaccinated — for themselves, their families, and the hospitals they’ll soon overwhelm. Sloe Joe Biteme 12/16
I will NOT comply.
 
Castillo del Cyber Autonomous Zone ~~~~~>                          :dontfeed:

Online roamer_1

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Ah! I see your point.  Yes, it should be a matter for business rather than art, simply because it's easier to define clearly.  The free conduct of business train left the station in the 60's.

Right. It needs to return.

Offline PeteS in CA

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https://hotair.com/archives/jazz-shaw/2019/09/17/broke-bake-cake-woke-make-invitations/

Broke: Bake The Cake. Woke: Make The Invitations

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In all of these cases that arise, I find myself coming back to the same point. Why do these couples seek out these specific providers and demand that they and only they will be suitable to serve them? The industry supporting weddings in America is brutally competitive. Virtually anywhere you go you will find hordes of people eager to take your money exchange for all of the goods and services a wedding requires. And at the risk of overly generalizing, it’s a pretty gay-friendly environment if you know what I mean.

Insisting that someone with a moral objection provide your goods and services when you could so easily find those services elsewhere seems mean-spirited at best. Perhaps the courts are taking that into consideration as well as the entire forced speech concern.

Most of the article is a recounting of the issues of this case. But in the last two paragraphs of the article Jazz Shaw pointed out, briefly the pachyderm in the parlor I've seen few call out. While I know from having kept tabs on this case that this lawsuit was filed premptively, filed before activists or bureaucrats could target this business, most or almost all other similar cases have been the result of homosexual activists targeting businesses known to be run by theologically conservative Christians.

Stooge-activist couples get the decline they sought, make their demand, and then take their issue to "Human Rights Commissions" (= kangaroo courts designed to bypass and deny civil and criminal due process). Then once their due process rights have been denied, the baker/florist/photographer/artist/calligrapher/videographer has to appeal in courts where the burden of proof is on them. IOW, the activists take advantage of a system rigged for their purpose. The reason the baker in Colorado won is that the bureaucrats were too blatant and open about their prejudice.
If, as anti-Covid-vaxxers claim, https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2021/robert-f-kennedy-jr-said-the-covid-19-vaccine-is-the-deadliest-vaccine-ever-made-thats-not-true/ , https://gospelnewsnetwork.org/2021/11/23/covid-shots-are-the-deadliest-vaccines-in-medical-history/ , The Vaccine is deadly, where in the US have Pfizer and Moderna hidden the millions of bodies of those who died of "vaccine injury"? Is reality a Big Pharma Shill?

Millions now living should have died. Anti-Covid-Vaxxer ghouls hardest hit.

Offline txradioguy

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On Monday, the Arizona Supreme Court has ruled that two women who run an invitation company do not have to create content for LGBT weddings.

Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski started and run their wedding invitation company, "Brush and Nib," in Phoenix. Through this company, they sell hand-drawn invitations.

While other Christian companies only entered a legal battle once they were personally sued by people who had been refused service for their same-sex weddings, Duka and Koski decided to preemptively bring their case before the courts themselves.

Alliance Defending Freedom, who is representing the women, said in a statement that Duka and Koski were faced "with an impossible choice." A non-discrimination law in the city required them to accept work orders from all weddings or face fines of up to $2,500 and a maximum six months in jail.

"They didn't want to go to jail and pay $2,500 for each day they failed to comply," ADF said. "They didn't want to close the business they poured so much into. But the alternative wasn't doable. They could not compromise their artistic and religious beliefs. They could not accept sitting down in their studio and hand-drawing artwork that contradicted who they are and what they hold dear."

Duka and Koski lost their initial bid in a lower court, but that setback was reversed when the Arizona Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the law violated their free speech. However, this ruling was narrow and applied only to the hand-made invites, which the court said fell under freedom of speech, and not anything else they might do.

https://www.theblaze.com/news/arizona-supreme-court-rules-that-christian-company-does-not-have-to-make-invitations-for-lgbtq-weddings?utm_content=bufferf181b&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=tw-theblaze
The libs/dems of today are the Quislings of former years. The cowards who would vote a fraud into office in exchange for handouts from the devil.

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Offline Cyber Liberty

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Merged in Arizona.
For unvaccinated, we are looking at a winter of severe illness and death — if you’re unvaccinated — for themselves, their families, and the hospitals they’ll soon overwhelm. Sloe Joe Biteme 12/16
I will NOT comply.
 
Castillo del Cyber Autonomous Zone ~~~~~>                          :dontfeed:

Offline txradioguy

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Merged in Arizona.

@Cyber Liberty

I'm sure a couple of our "individual liberty" types will be disappointed in the courts upholding freedom of speech in this case.
The libs/dems of today are the Quislings of former years. The cowards who would vote a fraud into office in exchange for handouts from the devil.

Here lies in honored glory an American soldier, known but to God

THE ESTABLISHMENT IS THE PROBLEM...NOT THE SOLUTION

Republicans Don't Need A Back Bench...They Need a BACKBONE!

Offline Cyber Liberty

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@Cyber Liberty

I'm sure a couple of our "individual liberty" types will be disappointed in the courts upholding freedom of speech in this case.

It's not popular with those on our side either (see above), for different reasons.
For unvaccinated, we are looking at a winter of severe illness and death — if you’re unvaccinated — for themselves, their families, and the hospitals they’ll soon overwhelm. Sloe Joe Biteme 12/16
I will NOT comply.
 
Castillo del Cyber Autonomous Zone ~~~~~>                          :dontfeed:

Online Wingnut

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SCOTUS has been kicking this can back to the lower courts in several liberal strongholds where perversion is dressed up as the new normal in hopes they would get it "right".  But like a bad check, it keeps bouncing back.
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